On this day
1547: Henry VIII died at Richmond, in a room reeking of the stench from his leg ulcers.
1807: London’s Pall Mall was the first street in any city in the world to be lit by gas.
1829: Body-snatcher William Burke was hanged in front of a huge crowd.
1908: The London Playhouse Theatre opened.
1932: The Japanese occupied Shanghai, starting a full-scale invasion of China.
1935: Iceland became the first country to legalise abortion.
1953: Derek Bentley, 19, was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, despite public protests. Bentley and Christopher Craig, 16, had been found guilty of murdering a policeman, but Craig escaped the gallows because of his age.
1986: US space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after take-off, killing seven astronauts.
1993: The IRA bombed Harrods for the third time in 20 years. Four people were injured.
2014: The routes of high-speed rail links to cities in the north of England were announced, in a move prime minister David Cameron said would boost Britain’s stagnant economy.
On this day last year: The National Trust announced plans for a “green corridor” to link the centre of Bath to the surrounding countryside and create new habitat for wildlife.
Birthdays
David Lodge, author, 88; Alan Alda, actor, 87; Nick Raynsford, politician, 78; Robert Wyatt, musician, 78; Nicolas Sarkozy, former president of France, 68; Nick Price, golfer, 66; Gianluigi Buffon, goalkeeper, 45; Nick Carter, singer (Backstreet Boys), 43; Elijah Wood, actor, 42.
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